Shcherbak addresses Colombian-Ukrainian connection (03/03/96)

Shcherbak addresses Colombian-Ukrainian connection

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Yuri Shcherbak, said that Ukraine has undertaken a full investigation - unilaterally and in cooperation with the United States and Colombia - of press allegations that Ukrainian Antonov 32B planes are being used by Colombian drug traffickers.

At the same time, Dr. Shcherbak called into question the motivation of The Los Angeles Times, which published the story, and indicated that Ukraine might sue the paper for slander.

The ambassador was asked about developments in the case, which surfaced during President Leonid Kuchma's visit to Washington on February 20-23.

During a news conference at the Ukrainian Embassy February 28, Ambassador Shcherbak stated that the following steps were taken following the publication of the allegations:

Both Presidents Kuchma and Bill Clinton ordered investigations of the allegations.
Ukraine's Security Service initiated an investigation, and its investigators are scheduled to travel to Colombia to pursue the matter there.
The Ukrainian Embassy is discussing the case with the Embassy of Colombia in Washington.
President Kuchma's special representative has met with FBI Director Louis Freeh.

Ambassador Shcherbak added that a technical aviation commission from Ukraine was in Colombia in September 1995 and it returned without any warnings about any misuse of Ukrainian planes leased to private Colombian enterprises for legal purposes. "We don't know what has happened there," he added.

The accusation that the Ukrainian government was somehow involved with Colombian drug traffickers is "absurd" and "insulting," Ambassador Shcherbak said.

"And we are looking into the possibility of taking the newspaper to court ."

The ambassador said that, knowing about the planned publication of the article, he wrote a letter to the editor-in chief of the Los Angeles Times, asking him to postpone publication until the allegations could be checked out. The newspaper quoted excerpts of his letter, but did not postpone publication, which, he said, casts a shadow on the paper's intent.

The article appeared on February 20, the day of President Kuchma's arrival in Washington for talks with President Clinton, other US officials, as well as the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, whose support is needed for Ukraine's economic stabilization program.

Ambassador Shcherbak said the story was "more typical of communist press...as if it were in Pravda. And the question arises," he added, "Whom does it benefit? Because the first reporter's question in the Oval Office of the president and the first question by Sen. Jesse Helms in the Senate dealt with this story."

He noted, however, that the reaction of the U.S. government to the story was "very calm and restrained."

Dr. Shcherbak said he will call a news conference to present all the details of the case after his government has concluded its investigation.

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